Top 10 Apple Influencers of 2009

They’re the cardinals of creativity. The trailblazers of transformation. The messiahs of messaging. They’re key agents of influence in the ever-growing Applesphere, and they’re 10 people to watch, next year and beyond.

Apple is more than just a company that makes computers, gadgets, and software—it’s a game-changing free-radical that manifests in multiple dimensions. Apple is a school of design. It’s a fashion statement. It’s a media message. It’s an expression of wit and whimsy. It’s a catalyst for creativity. It’s a worldview. It’s a line of iPhone buyers that stretches three blocks long. It’s an 11 o’clock news story about that line. Apple is much, much larger than the sum total of all its parts.

Microsoft, Sony, Samsung—they’re product companies. Apple is a full-fledged zeitgeistical gestalt.And, so, in the context of the article you’re about to read, Apple isn’t Apple proper. Apple is code for the entire Applesphere: the products, the work generated by the products, the work generated for the products, the news, the rumors, the memes, the way people think about it.

So who’s instrumental in shaping Apple? Who influences the forward-march of Appleness? Who exerts remarkable sway in Appledom? Well, Steve Jobs, of course. Apple is Steve Jobs objectified. No other company is so inextricably linked to the fortunes (and cult of personality) of a single individual. For this reason, Steve doesn’t just land the number one spot in any “typical” list of top Apple influencers. He dominates all other influencers as the sun dominates the planets.

But what if you remove Steve from the equation? Who are the other people who’ve helped turn Apple into this hugely popular vector of relevance? Who are these folks?

Our list reveals the select Top 10. Some work for Apple, but have only one-twentieth of Steve’s name recognition, or remain virtually anonymous. Some work for Apple’s partners, helping to shape the ever-evolving Apple essence. And some simply use Apple products in such public, innovative, impactful and/or prescient ways, they help build public perception of what Apple “is” as a cultural force.

These are our Top 10 Apple Influencers, but there are surely more worth noting. So who’s on your Top 10 list? Send us your Influencer picks in an email addressed to influencers@maclife.com. Because surely the Applesphere is roomy enough for more.

Senior Vice President of Surprise and Delight

The vision and leadership of Jonathan Ive is so essential to Apple’s success, we can’t imagine a plotline of Apple’s rise to the top that doesn’t include a leading role for the famously modest British ex-pat. As Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, Ive is the point person for a team of tinkerers who have delivered, well, the most winning product design of the last 10 years.

“Ive is a huge influence in the design community and the world in general,” says Victor Ermoli, dean of the School of Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. “He understands that it’s not about the object itself. It’s about the experience that the object will create.”

“Consider one of his signatures,” says Ermoli, “the handle of the G computers. The handle is like an extension of the hand when you meet somebody for the first time. The handle tells us, ‘I’m here to connect with you, to be part of you.’ It’s very powerful for Jonathan to have that signature—an introduction of the object to the person, from the moment you open the box.”

Indeed, it’s Ive’s ability to deliver that initial rush of connectedness that makes him such a master of “surprise and delight,” a dictum of product design that says simply offering the best, most effective traditional features isn’t enough; that to win our hearts and minds, a product must charm us with clever, ingenious features that we’ve never before imagined. Consider the translucent, innards-revealing shell of the very first iMac. Or the iPod clickwheel, integrating a full complement of button functionality into a sublime, buttonless interface. Or the warm, organic lighting that glows from the Apple logos of every MacBook. And let’s not forget the impossible smallness of the iPod shuffle and the impossible thinness of the MacBook Air.

In fact, it may be this reduction of size, bulk, and, most of all, forward-facing complexity that best encapsulates the Ive visual voice. Where, say, a Ferrari dashboard or a Breitling watch face impress us with a barrage of technical flair, the Ive product catalog charms us with magic tricks—the promise of features beyond belief inside objects that appear to have no features at all.

Ive’s creative hand has been manifest in Apple products since 1997. Steve Jobs had just returned to Apple and effectively liberated the designer to do his best work. And since that liberation, Iveian design cues have seeped into the world around us. PC case manufacturers copied the PowerMac G3’s trademark blue chassis in the late 90s, and Dell copies Apple’s use of color and whimsy in its notebooks today. Then there are all the 3D models of fake Apple products that explode over the Internet before every Mac Expo (Mac|Life’s own fauxtotypes will appear in next month’s issue). And let’s not forget that whenever Hollywood needs a computer to demonstrate a movie or TV character’s urbanity and sophistication, it inevitably reaches for the soft, cool edges of a MacBook.

An Apple Influencer? Jonathan Ive is second only to Steve Jobs, and, more to the point, completes Steve Jobs. As Dean Ermoli says, “When Steve came back, it became this chemistry between his vision and Jonathan’s execution that made this iconographic design language. The potential of the designer emerged.”

Please, this article isn't about race, ergonomics, artwork or your favorite pet peeve. It is about THE Top 10 Apple Influencers of 2009. I think Mac|Life goes the distance to handle facts in a prudent manner. They cannot overstep their journalist integrity just to appease readers. Mac|Life must do the best it can to be evenhanded with everything that is published. Before you ask, I'm not on the Mac|Life payroll. However, I must echo Michael Simon comments, "Good read. Nice article, guys. Really enjoyed it. Cool artwork, too."

The feature article Top 10 Apple Influences of 2009 was quite enjoyable, and Jonathan Ives deserves this and other accolades he has received. However, with regard to the current iMac and the Cinema Displays, ergonomics is blatantly disregarded. Most importantly, these products do not have any height adjustment, nor can they be swiveled. For those of us with bifocal eye glasses, lack of height adjustment causes a great deal of discomfort and fatigue with long use. Consequently, I disliked my G5 iMac until just recently when I resorted to building a small table to fit behind my computer table upon which the iMac now rests. The bottom of the screen just touching the computer table. Having the CPU at the bottom of the enclosure does not help. Surely, Mr. Ives can come up with an elegant and ergonomic design than the current models, with more appeal (for some) than the old G4 iMac (though I still like its looks and its arm for ultimate adjustability).

Just curious... where are the Black computer savvy people dealing in the Apple World of electronics? And where are the Black journalists writing on computer/electronics technology? Are they in a parallel universe? Or there are none out there in either of these fields? If it is the latter, then, for a start, my own son does not exist (he's in the computer gaming world as a game designer) in this universe....

We're out here blackeducator. I'm just one of many
professionals in the field, and I've been a Mac aficionado for many
years. No we're not in some parallel vortex in never-never land,
but maybe not as widely publicized as we should be. I've been in the
computer world for over 22 years, PC's and Mac's. I go back as
far as '85 with the Macs almost since inception and have grown with the
OS's through the dark days when crashes were more common (OS 6, OS 7,
OS 7.5, OS 7.6, OS 8, OS 8.6, & etc). I was the only black tech in
a small professional music company in Texas and started with the Mac's
back then when Mac's weren't popular. Now serving as an Apple Admin w/
a private Univ in Texas and one of the leading advocates supporting the
system since I've been here. It would be nice to have a few pros from
Ebony, Blck Entrprs and other credible publications to do short
interviews and bios with the African-American folks (like myself) on
life with Macs! Thanks for your curiosity.-ms

I agree Michael. But I especially liked the Hollywood fact. It seems no matter what movie I watch, if there is a computer genius in it, then at one point in time they show the Apple logo. Or (as the article wrote) to show “Urbanity and Sophistication”, which we see in The Office when Jim hosts his house party: right there in his room is a Mac Book.